


First Date

by MissErikaCourt



Category: Naruto
Genre: F/M, First Date, First Kiss, Fluff, Love, ShikaTema, date
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-16
Updated: 2015-11-16
Packaged: 2018-05-01 21:57:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,117
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5222429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissErikaCourt/pseuds/MissErikaCourt
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shikamaru has fallen in love, and it couldn't be more of a drag. It's too much work, courting women, and he never imagined that Temari would be the one he would fall for.</p>
            </blockquote>





	First Date

I've always said that I wouldn't fall in love, and Dad always laughed at me. I'm not sure how he knew that it would inevitably happen, but now that he's gone it seems like all the advice he ever gave me is paying off. I didn't think anything of it at first. I just thought that we got along really well. I've always been told that I'm easy to get along with, so I didn't think that this relationship was any different than anything else. Man, was I wrong.

Temari is sarcastic, and full of charisma. She's basically everything that I'm not. She's beautiful and funny and has a fiery temper, and I just really can't stop thinking about her. Ever since I first saw her when we were all taking the Chunin exams together I wasn't able to get her out of my head. Sure, at that point in time she and her two brothers were enemies of the village, but I think that only made me want to get closer to her. She never took any of my shit, and I admired that, and it drove me absolutely crazy.

Dad saw it as soon as it started happening. He kept urging me to get to know her better, to ask her to do things with me, but I always just brushed it off. Maybe I should have listened to him sooner. I'd made up my mind now, though. She was finally back in the Leaf Village, and I would finally get my chance to ask her on a date. The war had just ended, and we suffered a lot of casualties, but we ended up winning. Maybe one thing that pushed me toward asking her out was the dream that I'd had while we were all under the Infinite Tsukuyomi. My subconscious was trying to tell me something with that. I mean, I'd dreamt that we were married, and that we had a child together. If that wasn't a hint, I don't know what is. Plus, she held her own the entire time we were fighting, and that really got me going.

She was sitting with Kankuro when I saw her, of course she would be. Doing something like this would never be easy for me, but it's that much harder with an audience. I let out a deep sigh before I strode over to them, my hands stuffed in my pockets. She looked up at me from her seat and smiled as soon as she saw me.

“Shikamaru, what are you doing here?” She asked, her smile melting away all the nervous energies I had.

“Uh, I was hoping I might be able to talk to you for a minute.” I said, looking back and forth between her and Kankuro, hoping that he would just get the idea and leave.

“Sure, what's up?” She asked, and Kankuro just smiled at me. That asshole knows exactly what I'm trying to do and he's just trying to make it even more awkward for me.

“I...um, man this is such a drag.” I said, scratching the top of my head before I proceeded. It was probably best to just get it over with. “I just wanted to see if you'd be interested in going on a date with me.”

“Woah,” Kankuro said with a smile, elbowing his sister who looked dumbfounded sitting next to him. “I didn't think he'd just come out and say it like that. Smooth.”

“No sense in beating around the bush.” I said, feeling a little embarrassed at how in-eloquently I'd posed the question. I'm really not good at all this romance stuff. “If you're not into it, it's fine. I just...I had to ask. I feel like we've had some kind of connection for a while, just thought you might want to explore it.” I didn't look at her while I spoke, trying to seem like it wouldn't hurt my self esteem too much if I was ruthlessly rejected.

“Sure,” She said, and my head snapped around faster than I think I've ever moved in my entire life. “I'd love to.”

I was shocked for a moment. When I looked at Kankuro he was still smiling at her side, clearly enjoying how awkward I was in this situation. I blinked a few times before I started to speak again. “Uh, cool. Do you remember where my place is? We planned the Chunin exams there last year.”

“I remember, I'll meet you there tonight at six.” She said, leaning her chin on her right hand. “And this better be a good date or you'll never live it down.”

“Sure, I'll see you then.” I said, trying to act like her last statement didn't scare the living shit out of me. I waved goodbye to both of them before I walked back to the house that had been left to me by my parents. When Dad died in the war Mom moved out to live in a smaller apartment, so she left the house to me. Now would be the part that I dreaded the most, cleaning. The house wasn't a wreck, but it probably wouldn't impress Temari in its current state. I picked up a few things and put them in their proper places before I realized that I should probably make some kind of food.

“Now I remember why I don't date.” I said with a sigh as I walked to the kitchen to see what kind of food I had on hand. Chocolate, some marshmallows, strawberries, a pineapple, but not much else. Isn't there a fondu pot somewhere around here? I dug through the cabinets and found it, along with the skewers that went along with it after a bit more searching. Chocolate fondu is a romantic food, right? Maybe I should get flowers too. It was four o'clock, I would have plenty of time to walk to the flower shop and pick something out for tonight. I left the house again and walked more quickly than my normal leisurely pace.

“All this trouble for a girl.” I said to myself as I stuffed my hands in my pockets. “When would I ever put this much effort into anything else?”

I arrived at the flower shop to see Ino leaning against the counter. She perked up immediately when she saw me walk in, this would be hard to explain.

“Shikamaru! What are you doing here? Did you come here just to see little old me?” She asked in her annoying, high pitched voice. Sometimes Ino really drove me up the wall, I was sure this would be one of those times.

“Just here to buy some flowers, Ino. It is a flower shop, after all.” I said, looking at all the different choices. Who even knew there were so many flowers? How was I supposed to pick one? What would she like? What a drag.

“Who's the lucky lady?”

“Who says they're for a lady?”

“Shikamaru, you're not the kind of guy that would buy flowers just to decorate his house. I've known you since we were children, there's no way you would come here just because. So, who are you buying flowers for?”

“Temari.” I sighed. Of course she would stick her nose into my business.

“Oh! That's so adorable!”

“Since you're prying anyway, maybe you could help me. What should I even get?”

“How about...” Ino paused, looking around at all the flowers in the shop. She walked around once before she stopped in front of a bouquet of white and purple flowers. “these! They're called desert lilies! She'll love them! She's from the desert, so I'm sure she's probably seen them before.”

“Are you sure that's not too cheesy?” I asked, taking the bouquet from Ino and following her back to the counter.

“You asked for my help didn't you? If you weren't going to take it you shouldn't have asked me.” Ino said, turning up her nose.

“Okay, okay, fine. I'll buy them. If she hates them I'm blaming you, though.”

“She'll love them, Shikamaru! Don't you worry about a thing. So, what are you going to do on your date?” She asked, leaning over the counter, her blue eyes glittering with anticipation.

“I invited her to my house. I just thought we could talk...or something. I don't know. I don't really do this kind of thing often.”

“Don't I know it.” She said snidely. What was that supposed to mean? “Are you having food?”

“I have chocolate fondu.” I said, unsure of myself. Ino was judging my whole plan for this date. I could feel it every time she asked me a question.

“Did you come up with that all on your own?”

“Yeah, it's the only food I have at my house.”

“Well, it's a good thing. Fondu can be very romantic, you know. What about drinks? You should get red wine!”

“I'm spending a lot of money on this...”

“Shikamaru! That's what you're supposed to do on a date! You have to show her how much you care!” Ino yelled and I flinched away. Okay, maybe she knows a little more about dating than I do.

“Fine, what else?”

“After that it's just going to come down to how much chemistry the two of you have together. Don't worry, I've seen you two together, everything will go fine. Don't be so nervous, women can tell when you're scared of them you know.” She said with a smile.

“I'm not scared of her, Ino.” I said, getting a bit defensive. I'm not scared, I'm terrified.

“Sure you aren't. You go have fun. Don't do anything I wouldn't do!” She called after me as I turned to walk out. I ignored her calls and went to buy wine before going home. Who even knew there were so many different kinds of red wine? I picked the one that said it would go well with chocolate and hurried home. I would have just enough time to shower before Temari arrived.

I put the flowers in a vase in the kitchen and put the chocolate in the fondu pot to melt before I went to get ready. I had just finished getting dressed when I heard a knock at the door. My heart stopped for a moment when I realized that it would be Temari. I walked down the long hallway that lead to the door slowly, trying to think of what to say to her when I opened it. I reached it before I thought of anything good.

I slid it open to see her standing there, and I wasn't prepared for what I saw. She stood in front of me in a black kimono with a red silk sash tied around her waist. Her hair was up in the way she always had it, and her hands rested lightly on her hips as I stared at her.

“Aren't you going to invite me in?” She asked, raising an eyebrow as I physically shook my head to clear it before stepping aside.

“Sorry, I just...you look really nice.” I said, trying to compliment her. Was she the kind of person that would go for that kind of thing?

“Thank you,” She said with a smile. “You don't look half bad yourself.”

“Thanks...” I said, a little dumbfounded. I walked her into the kitchen where the flowers sat in a vase and hurried to them, grabbing them up and pushing them toward her. “I got these for you. They're called desert lilies, I think. I thought you might like them.” God, this is going horribly.

“Shikamaru, how did you know those were my favorite flowers?” She asked, reaching out and gently taking the bouquet from me. She smiled and admired the flowers a little longer.

“I just thought that they might be something that you had at home.” I lied. Ino had picked those flowers out, but her reasoning was as good as any.

“My mother grew these flowers. She loved them.” She smiled again and looked up at me. “Thank you, Shikamaru. I love them.”

“No problem.” I said before I motioned for Temari to have a seat at the kitchen island. The fondu pot sat in the middle, and thankfully the chocolate had enough time to melt completely. I put the tray of strawberries, marshmallows, and pineapple pieces out where she could reach them, the two skewers sitting at the bottom of the tray.

“You made chocolate fondu?” She asked with a smirk as she toyed with one of the skewers, side-eying me as she did so.

“I thought it would be a good snack.” I answered, sitting down beside her.

“You even picked a lazy food for our date. You're still going with that life theme, huh?”

“I heard that people eat fondu on dates, all right. You don't have to eat it.” I said, of course she wouldn't like the fondu idea, it was a little cliché. At least I'd gotten one thing right with the flowers.

“It's not a bad thing, I like chocolate. But if you're just trying to get me revved up because you heard it's an aphrodisiac...”

“What?” I asked, a little panic showing in my voice. That's not what I intended at all! I mean, yeah I knew chocolate fell under that category, but I hadn't thought she would read that far into it. “No, that's not what I got this for. I just didn't have any other food, okay? You warned me to make this a good date, and I thought good dates had food and flowers. Ino told me to get wine.” I said, pointing to the bottle off to the side, two wine glasses beside it. “I don't know what the hell I'm doing. I just wanted to spend time with you.”

“Do you want to know what my idea of a good date is?” She asked, and I thought she was really about to lay into me. She must be disappointed. What a drag. I can figure out the hardest puzzles and riddles in minutes, I can formulate a plan of attack in split seconds, but I can't fucking court a girl. When I didn't reply to her she just kept talking. “My idea of a good date is spending time with someone that I genuinely enjoy the company of.”

“You enjoy my company?”

“I wouldn't have accepted your request if I didn't think I would have a good time. Honestly, it's kind of adorable how hard you're trying, so you must really like me.” She giggled a bit and I could feel the heat rising in my cheeks. I tried to play it cool.

“And how do you feel about me?” I asked, watching her stab a strawberry with her skewer and slowly swirl it around in the chocolate. She looked up at me before she spoke.

“I'm warming up to you.” She smirked before bringing the strawberry to her lips and expertly maneuvering it off of the skewer. Apparently one of the rules of fondu is that your lips never touch the skewer you use to dip your food items. Her lips never even came close. Wait, I'm staring at her lips too much. My eyes shot back up to hers as she handed me my skewer. I stabbed a marshmallow and dipped it into the chocolate before I realized she was still staring at me.

“So, how does Kankuro feel about this?” I asked, before I bit down on the marshmallow and pulled it from the skewer. I was less graceful than she was, but I'm sure that could apply to a lot more than fondu.

“About fondu?” She asked.

“No, about our date.” I corrected.

“It doesn't matter what Kankuro thinks. Just because he's my big brother doesn't mean he rules my life. There are a lot of things about me that Kankuro doesn't know.” She dipped a pineapple into the pot and licked a bit of the chocolate off of it before she removed it from the skewer with ease. My heart started pounding that much harder at that statement coupled with her actions. What was she trying to do here?

“So Gaara's the youngest, then?” I asked, trying my hardest not to let my eyes wonder any further down than her lips.

“Yep, baby Gaara, and look how far he's gone. He's the Kazekage now. I never would have imagined he would make it that far.”

“Gaara's a good leader, and he's a good guy, I really look up to him.”

“He'd be happy to hear you say that. Gaara had a really hard childhood, all because he was a Jinchuriki. Ever since the attack on the Leaf Village all those years ago he's been trying to do the right thing. Naruto really helped him.”

“Naruto really helps a lot of people. He helped me when Asuma...” I stopped, I really didn't want to bring down the mood. Things seemed to be going well enough, I didn't need to start talking about my dead Sensei. “Naruto is just a good friend.”

“I heard about your Sensei, back before the war. I thought about making a trip here, to make sure you were okay...I mean...to make sure that you were _all_ okay. All the people in your squad. I know you were all really close.”

“It was hard, but we got through it. I got my revenge. I put the man that killed Asuma in the ground with my own two hands. I can't say that it's something I'm proud of, but I had to do it, for Asuma...for Kurenai...”

“You don't have to talk about it, I know it was probably difficult.” She put her skewer down and looked back up at me. “Let's do something else now. Do you have any games?”

“Shogi.” I answered, somewhat surprised at the sudden change of tone. Shogi, what a suggestion. I'm sure she'd find it boring to play shogi with me, and I didn't really want to run the risk of beating her at the game and ruining the evening.

“Hm, something more interesting. How about we play a game with alcohol, since you went to all the trouble of getting it for us.” She suggested, rising from her seat and going to fetch the wine bottle and the two glasses I'd set out. “I'll tell you two truths and a lie. If you can figure out which one is the lie, I have to drink. If you guess wrong, you drink.”

“Seems simple enough.” I said, opening a drawer and retrieving a corkscrew, then proceeding to open the bottle. I poured about half of a glass for each of us before we started the game.

“Blonde is not my natural hair color, I've got a very big crush on someone living here in the Leaf Village, and my favorite color is blue.” She said with a smirk, holding her wine glass in her right hand as she looked dead at me. “Tell me which one is the lie.”

“Your hair color.” I said, really just guessing. Temari didn't seem like the type to dye her hair, and if she didn't at least like me a little she wouldn't be on this date with me. The last statement she'd made was too simple to be the lie, so the first one had to be it. She raised the glass to her lips and took a drink.

“Now it's your turn.” She said.

“Who's the person in the village you have a crush on?” I asked, forgetting myself for a moment.

“That's not part of this game. Maybe if you get enough alcohol into me I'll let you know.”

“I had my ears pierced when I was an infant, not by choice. I never wanted to rise this far in ninja rankings, and I'm not half as smart as everyone believes me to be.” I said, going along with the game. Maybe I made that one too easy.

“I find it hard to believe that you're not a genius. Even I know that the members of the Yamanaka, Nara, and Akimichi clans all have their ears pierced when they're very young, and it's pretty obvious that you're too lazy to want to be a great shinobi. Your last statement is the lie.”

“I should try and be more creative, I guess. Man, this game is such a drag. Who needs a game to drink anyway?” I asked, rolling my eyes as I took a drink. Temari laughed from her seat, and it was possibly the most adorable thing I'd ever seen in my entire life. I stopped for a moment just to look at her as she took another drink of her wine. She noticed then that I was kind of staring at her.

“What?” She asked, the smile still on her lips.

“I just...I'm glad that you agreed to do this. It takes my mind off of work and stuff.”

“Stressful work environment? I thought you were best friends with the Hokage.” She mused, raising an eyebrow.

“We are friends, but sometimes Naruto can be...exhausting. He's a great guy, but I just can't keep up with his energy levels. I don't know how Hinata does it.” I laughed a bit before taking another drink.

“I can see what you mean by that. I'm glad I can help.” She smiled. “I'm having a very nice time so far.”

So far? Wait, there's more? We have to do more than just sit here and talk and drink wine? How am I supposed to come up with something else? I tried to choke down the panic that was rising inside me, but for some reason I got the feeling that she knew about it.

“Do you wanna take this party outside?” She asked, reaching out for my hand. “You do have outdoor furniture, don't you?”

“Uh, yeah, sure. It's a nice night.” I answered, taking her hand. I lead her to the garden area around the back of the house and out to a stone bench that sat in the middle. The quiet trickling of the water always calmed me, I came out here a lot after Asuma died.

“This place is beautiful.” She said, setting her wine glass down on the bench before walking around a bit to examine her surroundings. “Have you kept up with it?”

“My Mother planted all the flowers and tended to them while I was growing up. She's not around anymore, she moved into a smaller place after my Dad passed away, so I guess I keep it looking nice as a way to remember them both. Plus, she always loves to see that I'm taking care of it when she comes to visit.”

“Well, I like it out here. Good decision. See, this date isn't going nearly as badly as you think it is.” She said before she scooped up her wine glass and sat down, crossing her legs and taking a drink before she looked up at me.

“Ha, you could pick up on that huh?” I asked, a little embarrassed. “I'm sorry, I just really don't want to screw this up.” I took a seat beside her and she scooted closer to me, linking her right arm with my left. I turned my head to look at her before she leaned her head on my shoulder.

“Shikamaru, you can't screw this up no matter how hard you try.” She answered, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

This was new. I couldn't say that I'd ever even gotten _this_ far with a girl before. I just never found anyone that I was that interested in. Sure, there had been plenty of girls interested in me in the past, and I'm ashamed to admit that Ino had been one of them. I was just never ready for a relationship. None of them captured my interest like Temari did. From the moment I met her I knew that this was what I wanted. I had to see her again after this.

“So, does that mean you'd be willing to go on a second date with me?” I asked, trying to sound as cool as possible. She giggled a little at my side before she pulled away to look at me on eye level.

“Sweetie, you can take me on as many dates as you want.” She said before she leaned toward me and lightly kissed my lips. I blinked quickly as she laid her head back on my shoulder and took another sip of wine. I've always said I wouldn't fall in love, and man was I wrong.

 


End file.
